PANAJI
The Panaji police registered a criminal offense against Casino Pride in Panaji a day after a high-voltage drama unfolded onboard when Directorate of Enforcement (ED) officials were allegedly confined and obstructed during a search operation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The complaint, filed by Assistant Enforcement Officer Mahesh Kumar Choudhary at the Panaji Police Station under the subject, “Disruption of search proceedings under PMLA 2002 by Ashok Wadia and Gopal Ramnath Naik was registered late Thursday night.
The complaint made serious allegations against the Director of Casino Pride Wadia; Gopal Ramnath Naik and Arti Raja, staff of the casino among others.
As per Assistant ED Director (Mangaluru) Poluri Chenna Kesava Rao, the incident occurred on December 12, prior to 2:19 pm, during a raid conducted by him and his team as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation.
“The accused, acting with a common intent, allegedly threatened the officials, confined them in a room, and destroyed crucial evidence collected during the search proceedings. The ED officials, led by Joint Director Piyush Kumar Yadav, were verbally abused while performing their lawful duties,” the complainant alleged.
An FIR under sections 132 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from performing his duty), 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 224 (threat of injury to public servant), 127 (wrongful confinement) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offense) read with section 3(5) of the BNS Act has been registered with no arrests made so far.
Police sources said that the Panaji police were called to the scene to manage the situation on Thursday, the second day of the search operation.
The police released the confined ED officials and ensured the continuation of the search operation. To maintain order, police personnel were deployed on the offshore casino vessel until the search concluded and a formal complaint was lodged.
